President Donald Trump’s recent streak of rising approval numbers has come to a halt, according to new data released on September 22. An Economist/YouGov poll indicates that the president’s approval rating dropped by five percentage points over the course of a single week, falling from 40% to 35%. This decline effectively erases five consecutive weeks of gains, placing the president only two points above his lowest recorded rating in that specific survey.
This shift arrives as Republicans prepare for the final phase of the campaign season leading into November’s midterm elections. The survey, which was conducted between September 18 and September 21 with 1,402 registered voters, carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points. The findings suggest mounting political pressure for the president, as Democrats currently hold a double-digit lead in the generic congressional ballot. Furthermore, a majority of respondents indicated disapproval of the president's performance on several critical issues, including foreign policy, immigration, the military, and tariffs. Performance regarding tariffs received the lowest marks, with only 32% of participants offering their approval.
These polling trends have placed the Democratic Party in a strong position as the midterm elections approach. Analysts suggest this could signal a difficult season for Republicans, who are attempting to retain their majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The president’s polling week began on a difficult note, as separate tracking released by Reuters/Ipsos on September 21 showed his approval rating falling to 32%, a three-point decline from the previous edition. This figure represents a new record low for his tenure, surpassing the previous floor of 33% recorded in December 2017 and held for three weeks in August of this year. Despite variations between individual surveys, major polling averages continue to indicate that the president remains in negative territory overall.
President Donald Trump's approval rating had been improving for more than a month. Now, that momentum is gone.
According to the poll, only 32% of Americans approved of Trump's job performance, a three-point drop from the previous edition of the same poll.
